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Government Passes Most Recent Unemployment "Stimulus" Bill, Budget Deficit To Increase By $30 Billion
It must have been at least a week without the US government announcing some stimulus, subsidy, tariff or other protectionist measure, because today the government just passed yet another $79 billion stimulus bill, extending unemployment benefits and restoring expired tax breaks. The net cost to the deficit: around $30 billion. This really is a drop in the bucket: so far in fiscal 2010, the US budget has already spent over $107 billion on unemployment benefits, and $30 billion is less than the government raises in one of its three biweekly coupon auctions. On the other hand, when Obama next wonders why nobody in America works any more, he may want to reevaluate that 6 million unemployed people in the US are now encouraged to be on government payrolls for two years.
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Funemployment for everyone!
May as well right? It's not as if we're ever going to see a dime of that social secuirty money we've been paying all our working lives.
The money we lose to the central planners in DC all goes to feed the beast, whether it is called income tax, death tax, gasoline tax, or "social security contributions." The names they give to each slice of your hard earned wealth are euphemisms meant to make you feel less raped along the way.
You got that right, all they do is take take take.
unenjoyment ain't so bad no more!
Funemployment! Hey, I vote that one for the best quip of the week.
Was food shopping this morning and the person in front of me was buying some great steaks and other food for this weekend. Then they pull out the food stamp (SNAP) card and swipe away baby. Amazing the great things you can get for free from the USA Government. By the way ZH'ers, the food stamp (SNAP) program is run by JP Morgan. So...
The more people on food stamps (SNAP) all the better for JP Morgan.
Were they talking on brand new I-Phones while they were checking out? I see that all the time.
You mean like this guy, who's so down on his luck he has to go to the local soup kitchen for free food, but yet has a camera phone?
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/03/05/Michelle%20Obama%20at%20soup%20kitchen.jpg
LOL. thats too much.
I don't get it, deficit spending is deficit spending...why has all the MSM and ZH to boot covered the deficit spending of extending unemplpyment but not the deficit spending of the war that just got a whole lot more money that unemployed people. US voters may be more in support of waging war and deficit spending on it than spending on unemployment, but still, debt is debt, whey highlight the lessor amount when reporter...and better story would be between the Def spending and unemployemnet spening we just added 90 billion
ZH, sometimes you are a great counter to MSM and sometimes you thoughtlessly follow the herd....a true fiscally concerned person, like say Ron Paul, will mention ALL the overbudget spending.
www.usdebtclock.org says it all so much better than anyone here ever could!
usa needs money to bail out loser southern gulf states !!!!!!!!!!!! no bail out for loser southern gulf states !!!!!!!! they want the oil !!!!!!!!! they got in bitches !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is there something wrong with the economy that we would need to extend federal unemployment benefits? The folks on CNBS said things are improving and people are being hired, so I don't understand the passage of this bill.
Just got an email from: Eric.Cantor@mailhouse.gov
http://www.republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/
with the following excerpt:
"Rep. Michele Bachmann offered this week's winning cut on the House Floor; an amendment to eliminate a pay raise for federal government employees - including right here in the Capitol - saving the taxpayers over $30 billion.
The Democrats gaveled it down from the Speaker's chair, shutting down debate. The reason the Democrat Majority gave? It would prevent federal workers on Capitol Hill from getting a pay raise, so it could not be considered. That is literally the reason they gave. It is astounding, and an affront to every small businessperson and struggling family across this country.
The up-or-down vote was clear, the majority in the U.S. House voted to allow pay raises for non-military federal employees, while the rest of the country is facing pay cuts."
Fuck Bachmann. She'd never get reelected if she wasn't bringing all of that farm welfare/socialism back to her home district. Anyone can do that job, she just looks nice when she does it. She should publish the porno which shows her sucking all those dicks to get the farm subsidies for her district. (I'd probably buy it.)
when you continue to subsidize something you always get more of it.
who's f$$$in' paying for this bill? the unemploy?
sheeple,
The Ex-Employer, and YOU.
The future.
Haha. Uncle Future kicks Uncle Sams pockets ass anyday.
Not ceo`s !!!!!!!!!!! Ceo tax now !!!!!!!!!!!
What are transfer payments supposed to "stimulate?" Survival? Odd use of the term. Too bad we can't just call it the dole and be done with it. Clearer language leads to clearer thought, which is what I suppose is being avoided.
Well said.
Death by a thousand euphemisms.
You try living off $405 a week. And it's bleedin taxed to boot!
. <- worlds smallest violin for the people out of work for more than a year and haven't found a job that meets their satisfaction.
Socialists have to trumpet the idea that, in a non-profit based society, we'd all go skipping merrily to work out of duty to state.
To not throw a monkey wrench in this flawed ideology, they must also pretend that most collecting unemployment wake up at the crack of dawn and hit the streets looking for work, when, in fact, most wait until the expiration of their benefits before doing so.
I've seen studies (confirmed in other conversations with recruiters and other HR folks) that say for every $10K you make in salary, you have a month of job search time when you're unemployed. So, someone making $60K has a 6-month search "baked in". That's an average person in an average economy. There is NO WAY that $10K/1 month ratio isn't higher in this economy.
So, someone whose salary puts them firmly in the "upper-lower middle class" is looking at 8-9 months of unemployment easily. Then, when you factor in that no one will hire that person to do a job of someone who used to make $35-45K because they're afraid the former $60K person will bolt at the first chance to do so, it isn't so much finding a job to their satisfaction as much as it is finding someone who will hire them.
Maybe HR and recuiting firms are being "too picky" and should let former corporate types work at jobs that, objectively-speaking, are below their skill levels (let's stipulate that the person in question is competent. Yes, I know that many people, before 2008 and even now, are in jobs for which they are incompetent).
For those people, unfortunately, unemployment benefits are the best short-term option and sometimes the only one.
Yes, I also know that many will say, "They should start their own business". Well, for every 1 that will succeed in doing that, 10 will fail. And, in failing, they will use up time that could have been spent looking for a job, rather than starting a new business.
I've known people who have good work experience, education and want to work, but just can't get hired. Part of it is that for every time you actually get an interview, you're still looking at competing against 10-15 others with similar background/education/work ethic. It's pretty long odds even when you've gotten to the interview stage. You have to be damn near perfect every step of the way to get an offer.
Fuck 'em. They can go pick fruit.
I hardly think that's the solution in today's knowledge-driven economy. In fact, while it would be a reasonable option for some, for many it would be a terrible waste of human capital.
Perhaps there is a glut of this human capital? Many people have an easy time rationalizing why the Mexicans pick the fruit and they work in air-conditioning. Who has a better chance of survival when the chips are down? The person who can survive by picking fruit or the person who can only shuffle paper in an office?
Just freelance or work as a contractor. You'll find work quickly if you know how to pitch.
You have to be completely retarded in corporate America to actually keep permanent employees in this environment unless they're overseas.
That's why IBM's going over to majority contractor. Outsourcing that Social Security / Medicare tax burden.
Everyone will have to expatriate unless you want to be a sexual servant / waiter / masseuse to a financier or government worker. Not even joking on this - it's baked into the tax code and the labor laws.
"Not even joking on this - it's baked into the tax code and the labor laws. "
Big time. Hollywood and the education establisment got the natural result of villify industry, effort, and profit. An out of control government taxing and regulating producitive acitivity right out of the country. In the process they're producing the poor exploited, powerless masses that were actually thin on the ground before by the millions
Hey, that sounds like a good movie. I'm seeing George Clooney and Slappy White as the male leads. Wait, Slappy White might be dead. Get me a Slappy White look-a-like!
Insert [goat farmer].
Good point about contracting. "We'll have you resign, and then rehire you as a contractor. Sorry."
globalization bitchez
Just freelance or work as a contractor. You'll find work quickly if you know how to pitch.
Understandable if disposability is your thing. However, for the majority of us, it is not.
That's why IBM's going over to majority contractor
Until that gets fixed by the US Government. Just make it no better for them (or worse) to contract out than it is to keep them permanently.
My firm put out an advertisement for an "office assistant", basic, entry level $25k - $30k job, full time, a few weeks back.
Over 400 applications within 1 day, many MBA's applied for this.
The job market is fucked, and getting more fucked every day. It ain't pretty and is getting uglier.
I have a better idea pan, fuck you!
So you're unemployed and it is someone else's fault -- right tough guy?
I have been continuously employed since I was 16 and I'm 51 now. But I understand that people run into trouble from time to time and need a hand. Some call it compassion.
Don't start with the tough guy crap unless you can back it up. You are a spineless little pussy that hides behind a keyboard typing his conservative masturbation anthem every day.
Hoo ha! Too funny. I do have a heart and feel for the unemployed. However, let's face it, most American jobs are BS anyway. They can be done by any monkey and a lot of them are consumptive, not productive jobs. Yes, that means you MBA paper pushers/mini dictators too. And if US people WERENT SO FUCKING STUPID (degreed or not), they would have been watching and hounding what our government and corporate policies have been for the last 30/40 years. Most people bought into the game for all those nice salaries doing nothing. They f'd themselves.
Kali, sorry for asking the obvious question but what is it that you do for a living besides ridicule us monkeys?
RC, not ridiculing, just bitch slapping. I am self employed, have worked since I was 15, am now 50. I employ other people, but I do not tolerate laziness or stupidity from my employees, they have to actually work for a living. They are rewarded for that, they are more like family than employees. What gets me mad is stupid, lazy people who can't figure out anything else than being a wage slave to feel they have a right to take MY and MY EMPLOYEES money from our families mouths because they are too lazy to work at McDonalds or start their own biz when their bennies run out. I never got that luxury, neither did my employees. I have avoided, the best of my ability, to depend on anyone or anything else for what I have, I expect the same for others. UNLESS, (see post below) they TRULY are disabled. People's unemployment bennies should be cut off when the $$ that they/their employers paid have run out. Otherwise, you are literally stealing food from the mouths of me and my employees.
Actually, RC, I like a lot of your comments. I was actually cheering on your reply to Pan. I actually can see both sides of the coin, but when it comes right down to it, people should be responsible for themselves. I am compassionate, I have taken into my household (some times for years) people who have lost their jobs, got injured, lost everything. But that is cuz I cared for those people and I was financially able and willing, NOT because I was forced to.
I think we are in agreement. Small business is the backbone of the US and also employs in excess of 75% of the work force.
You provide more to your community than any big corporation that sponsors the youth center or whatever charity they donate to for a PR moment could ever possibly do, and you should be commended for it.
People should be responsible for themselves. It is a basic motivation that has to come from within.
Sad people like pan who buy into the daily WWE event called Dem vs. Repub. Liberal vs. Conservative media bullshit show don't realize that it is just that, a show. Designed to divide and conquer the masses. Oldest form of crowd control known to mankind: divide and conquer.
Yes, thank you, agreed. Those big corps only donate for the PR and tax deduction. I have donated much $$/time/resources to local community, the only time ya see the pollys and corps are when the TV cameras are there. What it really comes down to is how much you love your community and what you are willing to do for it. We have to change the way we live, the system as it exists is unsustainable. The whole world is spiraling into complete chaos and the only thing that will save me, my community, my nation is that we have to work together, for the common good. We also have to learn to be more tolerant of differences, learn how to be personally responsible for everything one does and to learn how to love one another. Hate/greed/sloth accomplish nothing.
Half of those 'small businesses' are building contractors and farmers who hire illegals. The other half are 'independent contractors' who think they are getting a great deal until they get sick, lose their contracts and their insurance (if they bothered to buy any.) My local pharmacy is trying to keep Walgreens out. Fuck'em - if they cannot compete they shouldn't be in business.
I don't know about Walgreens, but for example do you think local stores can compete with a Walmart that is so big they can tell their suppliers how much they are going to pay or else. They have suppliers in China and unlimited resources compared to the locals. I use to think the same way as you, the more competition the better, but after I saw how Walmart games the system, employees, and suppliers, I changed my mind.
That's the way it goes, that is capitalism. Monopolies and big business are the logiciel end to capitalism as the power gets concentrated. Pretty soon everyone will work for Walmart. I am waiting for Walmart to have clinics in their stores so the poor people can get their blood pressure checked and get the prescription for their meds filled while spending their Walmart paycheck on ramen noodles.
People's unemployment bennies should be cut off when the $$ that they/their employers paid have run out. Otherwise, you are literally stealing food from the mouths of me and my employees.
At this point, many people will actually get close to what they paid in to UI. For those whom are 5+ years out, they'll probably not max out.
That gets me mad is stupid, lazy people who can't figure out anything else than being a wage slave to feel they have a right to take MY and MY EMPLOYEES money from our families mouths because they are too lazy to work at McDonalds or start their own biz when their bennies run out.
You're asking them to take the haircut by taking work that recalculates their UI quite far downward, or nullifies it. Ironically, getting work that's very far below is less rational of them (economically speaking) if they know unemployment is near-certain over the short-medium term. For more than a few people, the UI office will say just that to people, and possibly overlook their lack of applications. Those people will probably be better served by a WPA II(worst case if they refuse these people or play dirty pool w/ employment law), a suspension of all H1/L1/outsourcing(direct and indirect), a major relaxing of unemployment regulations for contract employees, and/or making it no worse off as a contractor than it is to be a full employee(from both sides of the employment agreement). If you want them working, dang well make it worth their while to do so before their benefits run out - not in desperation after.
Your words might be good in an economy that isn't on the edges of being GDII. However, it is on the edges of GDII.
I have several friends that have degrees in Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering that have done diverse things like bio-medical devices, power generation, manufacturing, hydraulics, road and bridge construction, retaining walls, wind power structures, high end adhesives for planes, product development....I could go on...real jobs creating real things people and economy needs
and these are solid people, well educated, personable, motivated, networked, practical (not just book smart) good team members...and these are people that have been unemployed for 6 months to a year...and yes, being practical people a lot of them are doing side, under-the-table work for a little extra cash like fixing peoples computers, construction projects, hell...yard work..while looking intently for jobs. Many have looked for jobs all over the country, even tho they are stuck in a house and have a spouse with a job that can't move, they would move if it meant they could get a job. They are willing take a job for 30 percent or less than what they were making before, but they have gotten no offers.
They even dumb done their resume to get jobs that don't require engr degree, so they can at least get health insurance...but people are afraid to hire overqualified people....
I also know a lot of losers, without valuable degrees or not good people that still have great jobs, because they were at a right place, friends with the right manager etc when music stopped. Some corps only have laid off 1-5 percent, while others have lopped off whole divisions or lost 50 percent or gone under.
If you are not on the outside looking in, I don't think you get how ugly it is....I know military people without degrees that have never seen combat complaining that when retire at 55 the govt might pay a little less than before. I know county employees who have similarly generous pension benes to military complaining they might not get a raise this year, I know lame people working at a big corporation that were mad their bonuses were half of what they were in 2007....meanwhile good people are barely hanging on, have no savings left, will have no 401k left etc...
Moneymutt, that is a problem, I was one of those engineers in the same situation in the 80's, 90's. I have, literally, shovelled rabbit shit, worked min. wage at crappy jobs, contracted, etc. I was also angry that smart, productive people had no jobs and totally useless fuck wads kept theirs, that some people enjoy the fruits of everyone elses labor and complain. But, I finally wizened up and used the brains and education I had to work hard and get out of that rut. Maybe I was lucky, but I sacrificed a lot and worked very hard. I was homeless for awhile too. But by living frugally and devoting lots of time and energy, I was able to do it. So, I have been the outside and looking in. The key is to embrace the outside and make it your friend. The "inside" is a sordid, ugly game and is best to start your own new one. Life is hard, many people have never learned that and it shows.
The reality, Mutt and Kali: if somebody in power wants their nephew to have the job you are applying for then you lose out. The only time you have a chance is when unemployment is at 5% because you are in demand. Today, at 10+ percent, the jobs are all filled with nepotism, the contacts are all gained through nepotism and you - you shovel shit... Maybe Ripped Chunk will hire you in his small business... or not, he's probably hiring illegals.
Man, you are an asshole. I shoveled rabbit shit in a research lab as a new engineer that couldn't get hired in a very bad economy. YOu missed the point fucktard. I have my own biz and employ US people here in the US at good wages they can survive on. Fuck the uncle,nephew, corpss,pollys and the rest of the useless scum that make their money for no effort, brains or giving anything back to the communities they live in.
How does anyone live with someone as unbearable as you? Scrooge.
I have several friends that have degrees in Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering that have done diverse things like bio-medical devices, power generation, manufacturing, hydraulics, road and bridge construction, retaining walls, wind power structures, high end adhesives for planes, product development....I could go on...real jobs creating real things people and economy needs
and these are solid people, well educated, personable, motivated, networked, practical (not just book smart) good team members...and these are people that have been unemployed for 6 months to a year...and yes, being practical people a lot of them are doing side, under-the-table work for a little extra cash like fixing peoples computers, construction projects, hell...yard work..while looking intently for jobs. Many have looked for jobs all over the country, even tho they are stuck in a house and have a spouse with a job that can't move, they would move if it meant they could get a job. They are willing take a job for 30 percent or less than what they were making before, but they have gotten no offers.
+1000.
The question is, what of those who may have the skillsets and good references, but not necessarily the cash, sheepskin, or willingness to throw UI away by becoming a contract/1099 employee?
I also know a lot of losers, without valuable degrees or not good people that still have great jobs, because they were at a right place, friends with the right manager etc when music stopped. Some corps only have laid off 1-5 percent, while others have lopped off whole divisions or lost 50 percent or gone under.
Work for a non-profit government contractor if you can. You'll end up flying over the nation and world on the taxpayer's dime, and get paid a ton on top of that. Hell, they'll even give you the option to relocate or fly enough that you're using the plane as often as a car.
So I am conservative now and you are liberal? When did that happen?
I don't recall saying anything about being liberal. Tough guy.
Reality will find you some day too friend, when it does, I'll be here to lend my should for you to cry on.
Yes pan, you figured it out. I knew you would.
I have lost touch with reality. Very happy to not be part of your world.
I appreciate your gracious praise. I pray you get an extra 50 dollars a week in unemployment when you need it because you really deserve it.
I know personally of two people who have now been collecting longer than they were employed at the job that qualified them for benefits. Neither one is a bread winner, and neither one is the least bit interested in looking for work (talking zero effort) as long as the bennies keep rolling. My compassion level is definitely tempered by reality when it comes to subsidizing sloth. Sloth? Cruel bastard I am? I refer to the sloth of Gov who would rather pay them all then get off their asses and determine who actually deserves this endless emergency stipend.
Who's subsidizing sloths? You got a phone number? Email addy?
If I ruled the world no one would receive benefits of any kind. Let natural selection take its course.
Like it did when your parents met? Now look what we have to deal with.
Chunk didn't I see you on www.peopleofwalmart.com lets see, mullet check, muscle tee shirt check. No wonder he's so out spoken he's a celeberty.
Probably because I never shop at Wal Mart.
If you have a problem with outspoken people perhaps you should find another blog.
There are a few organizations for people that like to make up profiles of others because they feel they are too outspoken like: The FBI, Department of Homeland Security etc. I think you should apply there. They might even give you a gun and a laptop!
Nooooooooooooo I knew I saw you somewhere, don't trust people named Chunk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5UG7ISJfP0
And the laptop will have spell check! (by the way, ZH has a spell check function. The check mark with "abc" above it)
But its and easy word, let's sound it out together shall we? cel eb rity that's it, celebrity!
The real Chunk would have got it on the first post you are busted you sorry Chunk imposter! ZH also has an edit function the real Chunk would known that and gone back and added that to the previous post.
Planet check: you are aware that we are on earth right? You sound like you are in another world.
Chunk's afraid of Walmart because his business cannot compete.
Chucky, You must agree with Karl’s axiom, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs….. To each his own, I guess.
I just hope the critical infrastructure can be maintained as the cleansing ‘evolves’ at a quickening pace.
"cleansing"
Ok Minister Goebbels, whatever you say will become truth anyway.
it's not that there aren't any jobs, there are some. but i have found, at least in my industry, that people that have PhDs and many years of experience are taking junior to mid-level jobs. i nailed my last interview, knew the director who got me my in, had everything going for me. still lost out to someone who was vastly over-qualified, and taking a substantial pay cut. i feel like a fish in a pond were the population keeps growing and the nuggets falling in the water getting farther and fewer between.
and ffr, you make more money collecting unemployment than picking fruit. and almost the same amount as working some shitty service industry job, except all that time is yours. hard to argue with those incentives.
You ain't shittin' that there's a lack of incentive to find work with today's benefits. Someone drawing max. unemployment in my state takes home the equivalent of a $20/hr job.
I don't know you jomama, but I'd say they've made a mistake. People who hire "vastly over-qualified people" will find the new employee demonstrating, at every available opportunity, their "superior intellect" and piss everyone off. I found this true even of the Ivy League assistant managers my company use to hire. They barely knew where the bathroom was, yet they felt like they should be making all the upper-level decisions.
Good luck with your search.
Ha, we have a strict "No Ivy" policy. Works tremendously well actually.
we need to have a no ivy clause in the constitutional requirements for president.
yeah, i am well aware of how 'capable' over-qualified people are. many times they feel like they are above the 'shit work', i.e. everything that needs to get done, efficiently and consistently. i hate over-generalizing, but i agree that most of the time, when people take lower level jobs, they start out driven but then feel bored or above the work. i have had really bad experiences myself with bringing in over-educated, over-qualified people first hand. and then management bends over backwards defending their poor performance because of having made that decision, coupled with the cost of terminating and recruiting.
the worst part is the job market will not normalize in most all sectors until the banksters/financial oligarchs are kicked out on their asses and their corrupt politicans with them. problem is, it will take a revolution or something dramatic like that to bring real reform and recovery. and we can all agree that isn't going to be pretty.
and thanks for the well wishes :)
+10000
That is why you lie on your resume.
What happened to cake?
How bout fuck the government instead, for incentivizing people not to work, and for the minimum wage, and for barriers to firing people. We're headed for several years of austerity, either the grinding socialist kind that continues for decades, up to some collapse occuring, or we can have the fast and furious kind that leads back to growth, opportunity and full employment. The latter means lots of pay cutting across the board, including the minimum wage, and a full halt to paying people for not working.
i come from canada small town east coast. %18 unemployment is the norm, %25 is hard times. big families and everyone finishes with school and travels away to work. whole villages moved to new york to work the high steel. they were called fishes because they were from the fishing grounds. there was no unemployment benifits, medicare or guaranteed pension plan. no education subsidy to speak of and no dole.
no one who remembers what it was like then would want to wish that on their neighbor.
the price we pay for todays life of entitlements is the all powerful big brother government that tells us what to think, what to do and eat and when to shit. most people are willing to pay higher taxes and live with big brother rather than return to a life of crushing poverty.
the problem is that if big brother is allowed to continue,( if it isn't already too late), then we are guaranteed to revisit the bad old days and my guess is much sooner than most expect.
I guess that rule of thumb depends on what an 'average' economy actually is. I've never had to spend more than a month looking for a job (except for my first one out of college), for the past 19 years.
That's why I reported the "average", because it takes everyone into account, not just people at the low end of the range. And, yes, it depends on macro conditions as well. Clearly, in 2007, when according to the DOL there were 2 job seekers for every opening, it was probably lower, whereas now, with 5 for every opening, it's higher. It also probably varies by other factors as well, such as age, geographic mobility, etc.
I've had jobs where I was recruited directly from one company to another while I was working, too, so absolutely no down-time in between (left one job on Friday and started the other on Monday). That doesn't mean much in the big scheme of things because I'm not everyone.
Well said
X,
Many people can live off of $1,200-$1,250.00 a month, after they walk their debts, or are free and clear, and/or have retirement funds, IRA's,401k's.
I have. I paid off all of my student loans during this time. Times like these make you realize hmm.. ebay really sucks.
Just imagine how many IRS agents they could lay off if they delivered unemployment benefits net of tax!
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Heh. Imagine if they repealed the income tax! But you probably already thought of that.
Shh. Your trying to get our debt to gdp ratio killed.
BB,
IF the Bmasters Health Scam goes thru, (not defunded,or he's voted out in 2012), they are hiring an additional 16-17,000 Agents to police the plan..............along with an additonal 159 NEW Fed agencies to support them.
That is, IF we make it to 2012..................at this point, it may be time to start wagers.
get a job!
Perhaps you should talk to someone who works 40 hours a week and still doesn't take home that much.
Right here.
Xibalba
I can beat that, $714 a month untaxed.
MN, $615/weekly, pretax.
Damn.
Try getting almost $0, working 80+ hours a week, trying to keep a viable business going in this environment so my employees don't starve to death. My employees take home more money than I do! Now, if I could get rid of my taxes, BS insurance premiums, me and my employees would all be living a tad better than subsistence lives. The crushing costs and work of doing biz is becoming not worth it. I often think, "I should just quit and move out of country/quit and go on welfare/quit and prostitute myself out to some rich fuck, etc". Kudos to the comment below, "it is a moral hazard to be employed/responsible" (I added the responsible part) So, I do feel like being an absolute idiot for being productive, responsible, honest and moral. And yes, I am VERY ANGRY. (Ya don't want to make a Kali angry, she likes to destroy demons and get way too carried away with it. LOL.)
She who must be obeyed has run her own business for 35 years. She has always kept it small enough to be nimble. Up till 5 years ago at a prestigious downtown address, now 1 asst. and in the basement. She is now elligible for SS but the thought of going on the dole sickens her and she worries about her last employee. I try to comfort her by assuming all the responsibilites of acquiring PMs, guns, ammo and food. One must be realistic.
Yes, agreed. That is why I do not invest any of my assets (other than legally compulsory things like taxes, fees, insurance) in the system anymore. It goes to my employees, or, BBB (beans, bullets, bullion). My plan is to survive all this and be able to invest in and expand my biz when the climate is more amenable. I am useless to anyone if I cannot.
You make up for it in employment law favoring you over your employees.
I hate to say it, but they SHOULD help the people THEY trashed. But that is not the agenda. It's to keep the masses fed and off the streets (even tho it doesn't cover the mortgage payment), while they buy more time for more pilfering until there's nothing left but bare bones.
Because life is fair right?
You remind me of "the black adder".
+ 10,000
Fuck'em. They can all pick fruit for the farmers in Michelle Bachmann's district.
"Obama next wonders why nobody in America works any more, he may want to reevaluate that 6 million unemployed people in the US are now encouraged to be on government payrolls for two years."
He doesn't wonder, IMHO, HE knows that, and is counting on it to placate the natives, until HIS agenda is finished.He's about there.
Two things Barry will never do:
1. End the wars
2. End unemployment
Can you imagine what it would be like if he did this? All those vets wandering their hometowns with no work to be had. Nothing to do but mingle with the millions of people who have no marketable skills, can't compete with illegal aliens, and stand no chance at ever getting a job because minimum wages all but guarantee institutional unemployment.
1. Only the dead have seen the end of war
2. Only elected officials have seen the end of unemployment
Team Obama believes its a shame to waste a good crisis. Which is an incentive for them to create more crisis, by stacking up the unemployed, plonking time bombs into each abnd every private health insurance company and medical service provider organization, setting state and local budgets to implode thanks to endless mandates, letting the borders open for illiterate foreigners and jihadis alike. Plenty o crisis on its way!
Nothing is going to change until the political equation is altered. The Fed, its owners and their affirmative-action quota boy have 5 months remaining. Consider the consequences if/when the federal deficit was reduced by even a paltry $500B; can we say total & complete collapse?
Having a job is now a moral hazard. They are desperate to do anything to prevent the morts from rioting. These guys never learn. This will all end very bad.
+1
In the overall view you spot on, there are a lot of folks still working and draggin down good FRN's........
My daughter in laws Boss, just sold controlling interest in his company, and gave her, and a few other of her colleauges brand new Mercedes.........free & clear.
fucking awesome! now I can sit at home and read ZH all day long - ha ha... suckers......
Who says one needs to be unemployed to do just that?
Like it's the people's fold that they are all out of jobs.
Increase benifits by 30% but completely stop after 6 months in line with the last paycheck.
Don't make them used to lower income. People adopt to it and learn to live with that. Don't let them. The shock between no more income and a job has to be maximised.
SD,
You think this FREE $$$ is for the folks benefit?, nope, it's partly for political capital, and to keep the riots from starting before the AGENDA is complete.
Sudden Debt
Then what?
No jobs being created.
There are larges swathes of the US where no job is ever returning. We fucked the manufacturing base. All that is left is service like Nurses aid. There just are not enough old and sick to employ everyone.
I'm actually pretty disgusted with most of the posts here. Pissing and moaning about people who want to work but can't find employment. Are that many out of touch? We aren't even speaking of jobs that allow a "liveable" wage not even minimum wage, but ANY job.
I'm certain if the government created a WPA like jobs program some latte swilling idiot would be complaining about the free handout.
It would be very easy to disprove your 'people want to work' theory. We just need a control group which has its unemployment check cut off after six months. Do you think these people might find employment faster than people receiving a check for two years as they wait for their mortgage broker jobs to return?
Well, I quit working over 3 years ago and have been looking for a job for about 6 months now. I am certified machinist and millwright (industrial mechanic), and have just accepted a job working at a nickel mine up north for 3 weeks and (may) have another job when I get back. I haven't ever been on any government assistance in my life and have never had a hard time finding a job until this year.
I understand the malice directed at people who sit at home and do nothing but have kids and drink beer. However, in the last 6 months I have been very actively seeking work and found the situation way worse than ever before in my life.
Most of you people who read the site make me think of that scene in the movie "The Beach" where Francois gets bit by the shark and they decide to take him out in the forest to let him die - so they can't hear him in agony. I always think about that when I read some comment on here about "it will sort itself out".
Most of the readers here have done quite well in the financial bubble that has led us here. Now it's time to fix everything that's fucked-up, and everyone to tighten their belts - of course your cupboards are full. Everyone who was encouraged to get into the "market keeps going up!" game are idiots. Those poor uneducated masses are luckily docile, as the blame the government/banksters game plays out. This might very well change and once the sights are lowered a bit, they might just start remembering the guy who earned a big commission off them by telling them "The real estate market goes up 10% a year. Which would you rather have 10% of 150,000 or 10% of $250,000?" as my real estate agent did. For me, that dick-head's assertion was a catalyst to my awakening to the sham - but at the time it was "reality".
Congrats on finding work; I have been laid off before too. I don't begrudge you your unemployment, I just believe there is a point of diminishing returns, and that point is well before two years.
I wasn't laid off, I quit, sold my house and traveled, because I thought something so terrible was on it's way that I might as well go out and really enjoy my life for a few years before the shit hits the fan.
I hear ya on that. It's cruel. But I think the bigger picture is the end result as the the WIC and UE crowd continuously expands. The longer we let it go on, the more will die from starvation. We are way beyond the point of no return. There is no solution that can work outside of a lab or Utopia. Natural order will return no matter what we do. A lot of innocent life will be wiped out. It's not their fault they're not entrepreneurs. We've all been lied to. C'est la vie. Human nature changes at a glacial pace - once the third generation starts to come in it's time to get back to the land for self-sustainability. Hunker down.
The cool thing about blogs is you can discover yourself. Frinstnc'.
I always thought utopian was cool, but, alas, I have discovered I am a dystopian and am now much happier. Must go bury some more ammo now.
Get creative!
I lived for 4 years in Hong Kong. When somebody got fired over there and didn't find a job after 1 month, they started a business of their own!
If they failled it, they started another one!
People are so into blameing other people and passing the ball.
Nobody looks out better for number 1 as you do yourself!
SD,
To an extent I agree...........but, this ain't Hong Kong, and it's 2010, not 2006.
We have a whole nuther ball game here.
You have people used to making six figures, are 50+, and cannot even get a job at Wal Fking Mart!!!.
If they do, it's $6.50/$7.50hr, then they have to pay for clothes, fuel, and wear out a vehicle getting back and forth to the SLAVE labor pits.......and maybe buy health insurance.(good luck).
Now, after being a righteous dude/dudette, for 30+ years, which do you figure is FISCALLY responsible?.
Take the benefits(you paid in for 30+ remember?,not like a freebie),and use the time looking for a REAL job, or wasting your life(what's left), in Hello welcome to Wal Mart!!!!!!!!!!.
Sorry, I take the bennies I PAID for...............besides, those that have ever collected Unemployment, know it's FAR harder work, than having the job you lost.
+ 10,000
By all means, take the bennies you paid for.... The problem is that the Feds. have co-opted the system. After six months, and you're on their dole now.... (not directing specifically at you DosZap) Do you get off the train now? Or do you justify taking the taxed/borrowed/printed money with the same "I overpaid for 30 years, now I'm getting some back".
Most years, I draw a few weeks of unemployment. I work construction, and my employer lays off so many people seasonally that they pay the highest U.I. rate there is anyway; between projects, they tell everybody to go home, and, "draw 'til we give you a call". So, I draw my check, and for the last ten years there has been no real worry about work the next year. Guess what? Shit's slowing down. So this coming winter if I get sent home, the future is a little uncertain. I'll be the first to admit that I don't look for work when I'm laid off; I take home more in unemployment than my wife who's an RN, and I know I'm going back with my employer any day. So if there's no work in my field the following spring, and unemployment pays better than anything else I can find.....AND I can have it for two years.....
I've sworn to myself that if shit gets bad enough I can't get work in my field, I will never draw past the established 6 months. I would like to think I have that much integrity. Guess we'll see when the time comes. Cause it's coming.
"Are that many out of touch?"
Yes. Between the economic illiteracy taught in our schools (including keynesian nonsense ), there are huge numbers of deluded folks out there. Most of them are deer caught in headlights. Or there's my favorite analogy of the cargo cults that developed among natives abandoned by departing GI's. They built "control towers" and "air strips" on their islands and established rituals meanto to bring back all the goodies. Really, after decades of regulating and taxing and unionizing our manufacturing base out of existence we've carried on down the same path squeezing our service and distribution businesses to death. We're supposed to all become lawyers and financial types and government workers, suing eachother, trading paper back and forth, and regulating each other. That's supposed to work out dandy, without any nasty "industry" polluting things and exploiting people.
You know if the planes don't land that it's because you didn't sweep the runway or failed to say "roger" when speaking in the stick-built control tower. Cargo cults are great. Is Ben a cargo cult devotee? He realizes that the reason the economy isn't recovering is that he didn't print enough.
And they'd be all like, what's your vector victor? Don't call be Shirley! Anyway, the best locations to see the devotees of our own cargo cult are at Sam's, Costco, Walmart, and foreign car dealers. But it doesn't end there. A lot of domestic products and real estate got bought or bid up thanks to inflows of credit from overseas. They are shipping us stuff AND money since decades. When it stops the pathetic similitude of my cargo cult metaphor may be painfully apparent.
I'm certain if the government created a WPA like jobs program some latte swilling idiot would be complaining about the free handout.
At the very least with WPA II they would be working, and likely so at a wage higher than their unemployment (if not very close to it).
Another few bricks in the wall, eventually it may all come tumbling, tumling down. Or just wall us all in. Hobbsien choice if ever.
Also oblige people who are unemployed to work. City jobs or something untill they find a job.
Stimulate them.
I had occasion to be in Tel Aviv during GW1 and noticed 3 old dudes sweeping the streets. They were all wearing Soviet tunics covered in medals. I started a conversation with them and found out they were all nuclear physicists from the former Soviet and recently immigrated and were as happy as pigs in shit. Just goes to show ya.
SD,
You kiddin?.....your f'in with the unions then..........
Trust me, 95% of the unemployed would far rather have their old gigs back, than collecting Pfkinuts.
Want to really start a MOVEMENT..........mnake the 3-4th Gen welfare scrubs do city work, any work, except snag Big 40's, knock up 12yr olds, and wait for their friggin checks............
3rd, & 4th Gen Welfare recips...............never had a job, are clueless..............this is what got us in this mess, not the one's bustin it every day for years, and getting caught in the Squids web.
300+ Million folks here, barely (before the meltdown), had a little over a 100 million actually working!.Add the 60% of Gv't employees that constitute the workforce,that MAKE nothing to add value to the rolls......and we wonder whay we're Fkd?>
PS I just read a very interesting article in the WSJ about the UK getting ready to trim it's "benefits" scheme for those deemed "unable" to work because it's costing the government too much money - shocker, there!
I'm sure there are plenty of people who have a legitimate claim to be out of work, but by the same token, when your policy encourages a certain type of behavior, that is exactly what people will do
Clayton Bigsby
The graphic illustrates the futility of their actions.
http://www.innovationsinnewspapers.com/index.php/2010/05/25/less-hype-le...
Yet more evidence of our world-class, Solid B+ recovery.
So the spending orgy continues, and will continue. Until it can't - and once it can't, as John McCloy said just above, this will all end very, very badly.
Oh man, how would you like to be a hedgie right now, out at Shinnecock, no phones allowed, market basically ruining your already-bad month. Kind of makes you feel a little sorry for them.
I think it's about time unemployment benefits (and other government assistance programs) convert from handouts to interest free loans. Payback provisions would allow for cash payments over extended periods of time, as not to be onerous on families just getting back on their feet, or the loans could be worked off via some sort of public service.
I'll make this part of my platform if I ever run for public office.
" convert from handouts to interest free loans" part of me thinks that is an absolutely fantastic idea... But then reality hits. People will take the handouts for as long as they can, then default. Or just keep taking handouts indefinitely, etc.
After all, the government is such a great example for people to follow when it comes ot paying back debt. Paying back debt is apparently for suckers.
I say that unemployment should be funded by a "401k"-type plan, with some government backstops for people who are unemployed before they accumulate a certain level of savings in the plan.
But, if reform went the loan route mentioned above, there's always IRS wage garnishment to collect it. Where there's a will, there's a way.
First, suggesting that the government or any other person or entity should have a 401k type plan, when 401k plans already exist is... not the solution. Needless to say, it presupposes that the money is there. It is not, that is the problem. (and with Social Security, you had better fucking not keep feeding the beast hoping for a different outcome).
Second, the IRS' collection efforts, while not a joke by any means, have limitations. One of these, for example, is the statute of limitations on collectability of income taxes, generally 10 years. Further, it is in the IRS' best interest to settle all alleged debts. The formula used to derive what is an acceptable offer is as follows:
net equity in assets + monthly disposable income x # of months of collectability (statute of limitations).
In a situation where the person (a) has no net equity in anything and (b) no ability to repay, the acceptable offer to settle the debt is... low.
Third, if you are advocating a "loan" for unemployment benefits, then you are necessarily advocating a debtor's prison. This would seem wholly inequitable given the government has already permeated virtually every aspect of the economy.
In other words, if the government was not involved in your life, but offered you an interest free loan to get back on your feet, and it was possible to get back on your feet (through private job creation), then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing. However, with the government's intrusion into the marketplace, the government holds the power to determine whether or not you can even repay the "loan."
At this juncture, how could the government (are you and I the government?), in good conscience, give you a loan it either (a) knows you cannot repay or (b) knows it will inflate away... this is yet another reason why the government is not the answer. With this scenario, those in power would enslave us through indentured servitude now or direct taxation later.
Last, without a doubt, all things considered, the government needs to just keep the checks flowing. There simply isn't another viable alternative at the moment. Further, we all have to realize that the social safety net isn't there "out of the kindness of our hearts," but rather to keep a number of poor, depraved masses from collecting others to, simply put, break shit (aka question the status quo).
I recognize that there is plenty of criticism to this approach when we are both paying people not to break shit AND overburdening our budgets to pay police and emergency services. Arguably, it should be one or the other. But, those policemen will just end up on the other end of the dole if you dump them... albeit for less pay.
*disclosure* I have no hope whatsoever we will "right" the ship and, effectively, all these and similar handouts are simply giving morphine to a dying soldier.
Here is a novel idea- maybe people should save during the good times to prepare for when things go south?
I think Keynes beat you to it...